Ice, Paint and Appropriate Gloomy Weather!

We were supposed to have a really bad ice storm. It began raining while we were at the house and it was only a matter of minutes before we had the ice on the eaves of the roof line.

It was an appropriate day of rainy, gloomy weather as I had to take my mom, and her cat, Nicole to the vet where we had to put Nicole to sleep. Nicole was 17-1/2 years old and had been in declining health for the past month or two. She had stopped eating, was having trouble walking (her legs would just go out from her almost like she was ice skating) and she was alternating between having accidents and not going to the bathroom at all. It's the hardest decision we sometimes have to make, but in the end...isn't it one of the greatest gifts we can give our pets? These little balls of fur make a big difference in our lives, and all they ask in return is to feed them and love them. Their passing sure leaves a great big hole in our heart! Even though it's only been a few days...it still seems weird not to have her sleeping on the bed or coming out to get a treat when I go to my mom's. It was at this same time last year that I lost Maggie. Maggie had an aggressive tumor on his leg and it had finally gotten to the point that he was having trouble walking and was in pain. I knew that I couldn't let him continue on. That would have been selfish of me. I still miss him a lot! Once we get into the house, I will get another cat. It won't replace Maggie, but will be another fur baby to love!

The really bad ice storm we were supposed to have never really materialized. We had rain and we had cold temperatures, but nothing too severe. The second picture you see is the ice at the bottom of the mirror on the motorhome. This was pretty early on and before it got dark! I think it was really too warm to freeze much more than this!

Friday the painters were finishing up the trim and painting cabinets. On Saturday we went to the house and nothing had changed and there were no painters. Imagine our surprise when we stopped by on Sunday and painters were there...priming the rooms! They had the hallway, both guest bedrooms, game room, breakfast room, entryway (wasn't supposed to be primed yet), and my craft/utility room done! It's just primer and the color isn't quite what it will be once it's done. In the pictures it looks kind of "orangey" but it's not really! The painters are going to be back tomorrow and Angelfish (the faux painters) will be there as well!

From Earthquake Country to Tornado Alley!

Being native born Southern Californian's Don and I are "used" to earthquakes. We aren't used to tornados though! Last year in Florida we had a tornado that hit about 15 miles north of us. This year, in Shirley, AR we once again had one that was way too close and hit far too close to "home". The tornado started off in Atkins, about 130 miles south of us. It never left the ground creating damage all along it's path. It hit Clinton which driving, is about 15 miles away. It's actually much closer as the crow flies. It didn't stop there though but continued it's path stopping just short of the Missouri border.

Last week I headed to Clinton to go to Wal-Mart. It's the closest one around and I didn't even think about what I might encounter. Remember I said it's a 15 mile drive? Well it took over an hour to get there! That wasn't even to Wal-Mart! I couldn't believe the damage and destruction. The pictures you see on t.v. and in newspapers just doesn't really convey the scene before you. Seeing entire trees pulled up, houses with their roofs completely gone and places where a house once stood covered in debris instead of the house are amazing! We have lots of trees in Arkansas and there was a huge area of trees that were all snapped off. What's even more amazing is the neighborhoods where all but one house is gone.

We consider ourselves lucky. Lucky that it didn't hit us. This will affect the building around here but shoudn't bother us since we are past that stage. The house is coming along just very slowly and much slower than we would like. Now that you can see it becoming a real house it makes you want it to be completed even faster! The painters are in there now and have been for several weeks. We were told on Friday that they will probably be there for about 2 more! Why does it take professionals a month to paint the interior of a house? :-) Oh well, it will be worth it when it's done!

On Valentine's Day, being the true romantics that we are...Don and I brought home (to the motorhome) a pizza from Pizza Hut and watched Survivor and Celebrity Apprentice! Couldn't miss those! :-)

A lot of our motorhoming friends are now in Lancaster, CA attending the Monaco pre-rally. This is the first rally we've missed in several years but hope to be at the next one which is in July in Michigan! :-)

I put out some bird seed a few days ago to see if I could get some pictures of the local birds. Here's one that I was able to get. I'm going to have to work on getting a little closer but it was too cold on this day to be outside for very long!

There is a website that shows some of the damage around Clinton. It's amazing! It's http://www.clintonark.com/. If you'd like to see the progress of the house, it's at www.picasaweb.google.com/vickileith look under the Emerald Isle, Greers Ferry, I think I'm now on part 8!

Don's New Toy!

I haven't updated in quite a while, or so it seems! I can't believe how time consuming building a house can be! We go to the house almost everyday. That's both good and bad! The good is that the guys working on the house know we will be there so I think it keeps them on track! The bad (several reasons) is that it seems to go so *s*l*o*w*l*y*! It's also bad because we see some of the things they do...my pet peeve is that a lot of them smoke and they put their cigarettes out on the floor!!! I'm tired of picking up after them (cigarettes and trash) but I do it! If I don't pick up their trash...Tess does! She has eaten so much crap, it's unbelievable! For Don (and me as well) one of the bad things is getting there and finding the heaters on and the doors wide open or the heat still on after everyone has gone! The worst was coming in with the doors TO the garages open with only the garage doors being covered in plastic! I think the temps were in the low 20's at night then! I think our heaters have been hooked up for a month (or maybe a little longer) and we've/they've already gone through an entire tank (400 gallons/500 gallon tank) of propane! With the cost of propane at it's winter high...that's an easy $900! Now, we won't be using as much when we actually live there because for a lot of that time, it was still "open" to the outside. The garage doors were covered with plastic and the doors didn't have knobs in them! Plus the attic hasn't been insulated yet nor the bottom of the house!

Anyhow, Don and I recently purchased the lot in between us and our neighbors with them so now we have about an acre and a half of land. Everyone has been telling Don that a little lawn tractor just wasn't going to cut it (the grass that is)! Bill, our neighbor told Don about this great little tractor that a local guy had in his shop. After going and looking at it (and knowing NOTHING about tractors) he bought it! It's a used Kubota and although it's older than Don had hoped, it looks and runs as if it's in great condition! In fact, when Don went to look at it the temps were in the low 30's. The guy started it without "turning on" ? the glow plugs (ah, don't ask me...I don't know anything about diesels except you don't put gas in them)! The thing started up with no problems and ran like a champ! The guy delivered it the next day. Know where Don parked it? In the RV garage! Hope he doesn't plan on parking it in there forever! It IS a tractor! :-)

On Saturday Don polished it up, ran it around the yard and even cut some of our dormant grass! Today, we again went to the house and he proudly showed me his polish work! He started it up, showed me how to drive it and off I went as well! I even put the "finish mower" (the part on the back) down and ran it across a small part of the yard! Hope he doesn't get any ideas 'cause I won't be driving it much after today!!!

The house is coming along, slowly but surely! The cabinets have all been delivered with the exception of two that are supposed to be here tomorrow! The trim has just about been completed and the painters have already started caulking and puttying! They worked on Friday and got two rooms completed! It's amazing how long it takes to do everything! They have changed out our front door (I LOVE it) and are finishing up our deck (short 16 boards - UGH!) and back stairs! They've delivered the hardwood for the study, dining room and foyer and the tile guy will come in sometime in the next week or two and start the shower. He can do that while the painters are there and won't be in their way! The cabinet guy will be here tomorrow to set and trim the rest of the cabinets they just delivered! I've picked out lights and tile but haven't quite made up my mind on paint colors!!! For so long, I've only been able to post a picture of the "space" the kitchen was going to be in and now that there are cabinets...you can actually get a feel for it! I asked our contractor a week or two ago if he thought we would be in BEFORE we left for Baker-Vegas (mid-April). He thought about it, tried to think about scheduling and said we would be "close"! I hope that he knows that I EXPECT to be moved in BEFORE we leave! We may not have everything unpacked, but I want to be IN before we leave! I don't think he wants to have the house just sitting, so it seems like he's getting things on a roll! At least I hope so! If you want to see the latest house pictures, you can check them out at www.picasaweb.google.com/vickileith It's Emerald Lane, Part 7!

Happy Anniversary and an update!

Today is our 16th anniversary! Last year we celebrated with some of our Monaco friends as we were traveling to Florida! The year before that we celebrated with a few of the same friends while we were in Indio, CA at the western area FMCA (Family Motor Coach Association) rally!


This year we spent the day with Kim, Tim, Ashleigh and my mom! Ashleigh belongs to a cheerleading group called Upward Bound. They cheer at the Upward Bound Basketball games on Saturdays! It was the first time we have been to one of the games where she cheers and I have to say it was pretty cute and fun to watch! Today they cheered for two girls teams. The girls were very young and there was no score kept, but boy, did they ever put their hearts into it! The rules are fairly lax and it's not about winning or losing but about playing a fair game! The cheerleaders cheered during the game and then did a cheer at half time. Since there are two games playing in the gym at the same time...they cheered facing one way, turned and cheered the other! This was their very first cheer event and we thought they did pretty good! I'm sure we won't make every game (every Saturday until March) but I'm sure we will see a few more! After the game, we had a nice lunch at the "Mean Pig"!

Tess had her first haircut on Friday! It's kind of pointless trying to keep her clean at the house, but boy does she smell better! She had gotten pretty shaggy over the years and she really looks nice now! The first picture is her in the truck when they were delivering our cabinets! She always jumps in when anyone comes to deliver something! One day she may just get taken away if we're not careful! :-)


The garage doors are finally up on the house! For the past two weeks we have been helping to heat the outdoors! Since the drywall had been put up and they were "taping and mudding" it was important to keep the inside of the house from freezing! The exterior doors haven't been delivered so we put plastic up over the two outer doorways. Doesn't take too much going in and out before they get torn down so it wasn't really helping! The garage doors were supposed to be here the first part of the week and the plastic over the garage openings had been torn and blown so wasn't working very well either! We were VERY excited when they showed up and started installing them! **For those that know Don you can picture him looking at the gauge on the propane tank EVERY single day calculating how much propane had been used!**

You can check out the progress of the house at http://www.picasaweb.google/vickileith. Current pictures are in Emerald Isle, Greers Ferry, AR - Part 7!

We have been having the weirdest weather! Shortly after New Year's the temperatures dropped over night and we had a few nights of temperatures in the teens! One day it never got over 34 degrees! That was pretty darn cold! The first day we saw the fountain just inside the gate at Emerald Isle (our development) frozen I had to get some pictures! The next day I got out my new zoom lens and took some "interesting" pictures of the ice! It only took a warm day and a little rain and the frozen fountain was gone! (Another picture is some rocks that we drive past. They are always wet...this day they were FROZEN!) This last week we had some days that the temperatures reached mid 70's! (That's because we've been heating the outdoors) We even had a tornado warning and a tornado touched down a few towns over from us! We had a rude awakening that day when the owner of the RV park came to get us and told us we needed to come to the bathrooms! Don was just finishing shaving and I was still in bed! We got dressed in a rush, grabbed the dog, grabbed my camera and headed to the bathrooms! There seemed to be a lull in the weather and I headed back to the coach to put the slides in - just in case! Forgot how much "stuff" we had in the way but I got them all in! The tornado never got too close to us but it did hit ground here in central Arkansas!

So, back to our anniversary! I'm not sure how many people that read our blog know that Don and I were married on his parent's wedding anniversary! Don and I have both been married before but when we decided (after almost 6 years of living together) to get married I decided that I wanted to get married on their anniversary! They had (at that time) been married for almost 50 years and I figured if it worked for them...it would work for us! When Don's mom passed away they were almost to 60 years! In 2042 Don and I will celebrate our 50th! Think we'll make it? :-)

Sixteen years ago Don and I had a simple ceremony with our family all present. We had a few very special friends with us and then followed that with a BIG party with all our friends! BTW we couldn't have any more at the wedding...it was a very small chapel and not many more would have fit! :-) I thought it was pretty cool we had all four of our kids stand up with us! I can remember that they didn't seem too thrilled at the time, but I think it had more to do with their ages than anything else! They probably didn't like standing in front of everyone either! :-)

Happy 16th anniversary Don! I love you!

Useless Statistics for 2007!

A friend of ours always blogs about his "statistics" for the year (thanks Rod) and I thought I'd blog ours as well! :-)

In 2007...

Don and I traveled 11,327.4 miles...these are all motorhome miles! I don't keep track of our car! <--- We are actually very surprised by that number since we've spent so much time this year in AR while building the house! We actually drove 152.1 miles MORE than in 2006!

We slept in 14 different states - AZ, NM, TX, LA, AL, FL, GA, AR, OK, NV, CA, MO, IN and TN.

We bought $5,888.57 worth of diesel (1981.869 gallons) paying an average of $2.674/gallon. We paid the most in Wakarusa, IN - $3.049/gallon (9/13/07) and the least in Orange, TX - $2.239/gallon (1/12/07). The most we spent in one fill up was $340.74 in Flagstaff, AZ and the most we put in at one fill up was 130.213 gallons in Olive Branch, MS (MS isn't listed above because we only traveled through it and didn't spend the night!) BTW our fill up in Olive Branch was NOT our most expensive fill-up, but came in a close second! If you do the math, this means we averaged 5.71 mpg. This number is not accurate since our Aqua-hot (hot water system) and generator also use diesel and we have no way of differentiating between them!

We spent $5,396.69 on campground fees which averages about $15.16/night! We spent 25 nights in repair facilities :-( which included Monaco Service Centers, Detroit Diesel (Florida and Arizona), Josam's (alignment - our choice) and Buddy Greggs (some of the nights were weekends waiting for Monday)! Our nightly fee includes our "free" nights and rallies that we've attended throughout the year!

Now that you've seen all our useless statistics, have a wonderful and safe New Year! :-)

Do you see what I see?

Yes, I know that Christmas is over, but what a perfect title for this entry! :-) So, do you see it? It's SMOKE - coming out of the chimney! Now everyone around knows that Don really is a little bit "off"! :-)

He's been bugging our contractor, Troy, for a long time asking when he could put a fire in the fireplace! Don has had wood inside the house for a while now...even before they were done hooking up the chimney just waiting for the right time! He's had that piece of wood sitting on the grate since they placed the fireplace!

The kids came up the other day, but it was just too cold to sit inside and have a fire since the house still wasn't completely shut in! Yesterday, I asked Don if he wanted to do something "spontaneous" (get your heads out of the gutter!). Friday the drywallers only work half a day so we stopped, got lunch and brought it to the house! Don cut up some kindling, gathered up some "fatwood" (that he got for Christmas), brought in some newspaper that he's been saving up...and tried out his Boy Scout skills!

Hmmm, guess he needs to work on those skills 'cause he didn't do very good on the first or even second try! :-) I do want you to know that the wood was wet...you could hear it sizzling as it was burning! As you can see by the last two pictures - he did get it going! It felt pretty good even though there is no door to the study (where we had the fire). You could walk into the room and feel the heat!

One thing I have to say...the chimney had a great draw! There was NO smoke in the house at all! In Canyon Lake, Don was notorius for having a VERY smoky fire! :-)











You can still check out our building progress at www.picasaweb.google.com/vickileith

A Winter Wonderland!

A day late for a "White Christmas" and no snow in the forecast caught everyone unaware! What started out as rain, turned into snow! It was our first snow of the year and the first snow we had had in Arkansas!

So what did Don and I do once it started to snow? We headed out the 14 miles to the house to see it snow there! We almost turned around when we had only gone about 2 miles and had to stop. Seems that someone had already gone off the road and was sitting sideways - stuck! It was only the first of many we saw along the way! It only took a few minutes before the volunteers (fire department?) were there directing traffic and working on getting the truck unstuck!

We had about 5 miles to go when it started to rain and there was no evidence of snow! By the time we got to the house it had just begun to snow! It took some time, just like it did at the campground before the snow started to stick, but before we left it was starting to accululate! We didn't stay long since we didn't know how long it was going to snow and we are complete novices when it comes to snow! Headed back to the campground where it was still snowing. It became very apparent to us that the area from Fairfield Bay to Shirley gets more snowfall than Greers Ferry.

Just a short time before we headed out we lost our satellite signal. We didn't really think too much about it, I didn't even think about snow accumulating on the satellite, just figured that the weather was affecting the reception which often happens when we have very heavy rain. When we came back...still no signal. I decided to try putting the dish down since it had stopped snowing and it should have worked. Guess the snow had accumulated on the dish and then froze to it! I tried putting it partway up hoping that the angle would let the snow "slide" off. Seems like a decent idea to me. Well, didn't work! I put it up and down several times, angling it this way and that by manually positioning it, but nothing worked! For those that know Don well, you know that he LIVES by the t.v.! Not tonight! We ended up watching a couple of DVDs that we hadn't seen before! There's only so much solitaire you can play on the computer! I have LOTS of things I can do when I don't have Internet or t.v. so I wasn't worried about it!

The next morning the snow was already melting away! When we went to the house you couldn't even tell that it had snowed there at all! The satellite dish still wasn't working so I had Don go out with a hose and rinse it off! Next time it snows and we are in the motorhome I'm going to put the dish down early!

Don and I both know his dad is looking down at the Cadillac thinking my poor car! It's always been kept in a garage and now here it is covered in snow! Hopefully it won't be long before it's in the garage and not getting snowed upon! :-)

Merry Christmas!

To all our friends and family...

Wherever you might be this year, whoever you may be with - we wanted to wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas! Hope that Santa brings you everything your heart desires!

Merry Christmas To All and To All A Good Night!

Insulation, Drywall and Siding!

The walls have been foamed, insulation has been blown in (except for the ceilings), and the drywall has been delivered! A funny story (well, I guess you had to be there) Don and I were at the house while they were blowing in the insulation. Remember that the house has been (and really still is) open and rather cold inside! When they were insulating the game room Don and I were both thinking that it was already warmer inside, that is until we went outside and realized that it was warmer outside as well! Here's hoping that it's much warmer when the transom over the front door gets put in, the ceiling gets done and the doors into the garage get here and get installed!!

Tess is really going to miss having the "open" walls! Not only for running through the house, but also trying to play "keep away" from us when she has something in her mouth that she's not supposed to have (and that's often around here)! I love the pictures here of her where you can actually see her paws OFF the floor! She was running through the game room, kitchen, and dining room over and over!

The drywall was delivered the other day. Three truckloads! The first two trucks each had one guy and they arrived together! They should have waited until the third truck got here 'cause they had to unload it all manually! When the third truck (three guys) got here, they had something to unload it! It was awesome to watch the guy with the remote pick up the load, swing it around and get it into the front door! They spread the drywall throughout the house so the drywallers don't have to cart it all over! The drywallers really put that stuff up pretty fast! It's amazing how much the house changes when the dry walls go up! Don thinks it shrinks! If he had to do it over...I believe he'd have a 6000 sq. ft. house! Of course, he's also slight off kilter!

Today was busy with the siding guys working on the fascia, eaves and finally actually putting siding up! The bricklayers were back working on the front and courtyard of the house! The drywallers were finishing putting up the ceiling and walls! I think they'll have everything up by the end of the day tomorrow. Then they'll begin

mudding and taping (or is that taping and mudding)!

They also finished connecting the fireplace and chimney! Don is anxious to have his first fire in the fireplace...he already has a log in the one in his study! He'd better wait until they open up the top!!

As always, you can check out the pictures of the house building at www.picasaweb.google.com/vickileith. I'm on Part 6!

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

That's NOT a reference to a Christmas song, it's a reference to the weather! It was 26 degrees when we got up this morning (and we're NOT early risers). I think it got up to 32 degrees today and tomorrow we're having a HEAT WAVE! :-) The forecast is for highs in the mid 50's! It wouldn't be bad if we were nice and toasty INSIDE but since we go to the house everyday and we're still waiting for it to be closed up...that's not the case! :-)

Today there was LOTS of activity though with plumbers, electricians, carpenters, the guys that put up the siding and the multi-purpose guys (not sure what to call them since they will put up the garage doors, connect the fireplace ducts to the chimney and today they were putting in the central vac)! We hope to have the final windows in by tomorrow and hurray, hurray...our front door finally arrived today! Bad news though...the transom above the door DIDN'T make it! The guy at the store thinks he forgot to order it! Supposedly, it's being expedited! Sure hope so since we've been waiting for a long time for the front door!!!

If you haven't checked out the pictures lately, be sure to check them out! I think I'm on Part 5! Lots of changes lately! It's finally looking like a real house! Next week the insulation is supposed to be put in and by the end of the week the drywall is going to be started! The cabinets will start to get built next week as well! The plumbing has been picked, granite has been chosen, carpet has been selected and I've begun to look at lighting! Appliances have been purchased, the majority of our furniture has been bought and I have this HUGE "thing" of paint colors to look at! I can't believe the choices that have to be made and the details that you have to think of when building!

www.picasaweb.google.com/vickileith

I've missed a couple of picture opportunities lately...the other day one of our carpenters fell off the deck! I was the only one that actually saw him fall! I told Don, "Michael just fell off the deck" and ran out and around the house! That's the unfortunate thing about not having a back access yet. We have a door, but the deck is only a frame and there are no steps down! Anyhow, when I got there, Brian was talking to him (he said that he heard the unmistakable sound of a pouch being turned upside down)! I made him lay there for a few minutes but then he wanted to get up. Don and I were worried about him though because he didn't know what had happened. He didn't remember being up on the deck and didn't know he had fallen off. The guys were pretty calm and unconcerned. I told them to make sure they told his wife what happened. The next day, Michael was back at work with only a headache and sore. Today he was fine. I'm pretty sure he was knocked out (I know he was) and had a concussion (would be willing to bet on that one) but they weren't too worried! If I had of had my cell phone on me...I would have called 911 while I was running to the back of the house!! Yesterday they weren't working at our house, but at our neighbor's...Lewis and his wife, Pat live a couple of houses away and are building a new house about 8 houses away. We asked one of the guys how Michael was and he told us fine. He asked if we had heard about Art. Art is another of the guys on the framing crew. Seems that the day before he put a nail right through his thumb (with the nail gun)! He was extremely lucky since he missed the bone completely. I saw his thumb and I'm not sure how he managed to do that!! He had Brian pull it out and kept working! Yesterday it was swollen and he said it was throbbing, but today it was much better! These guys are definitely crazy!

What do you think of the picture I took of the cardinal above? I got a new zoom lense for my camera (it's my birthday/Christmas present from Don...I got it a few days early!). The other day as we were getting ready to leave I saw the bird in the trees and grabbed my camera out of the car! Walked over and got a couple of pictures before it flew away! I thought it was pretty cool! I've seen a few very blue birds at my moms. I haven't been able to get "close enough" so now hopefully with my zoom lense I will be able to! :-)